What Life Should be Like
by Calmer331
Summary: When life isn't what Harry thought it would be, what or who can make that change that he is unknowingly looking for?
1. Thoughts

Was this what Harry really wanted…?

This was on Harry Potters mind a lot more often than one would think. He had beaten the Dark Lord three years ago, and at that moment, he thought things would get easier. He knew he would still get there stares, he would still get the worshipped hero status, but he didn't think it would even be worse than before.

Looking back on it, he should have known it would have become like this. Everyone who already revered him was working overtime to make sure that he knew that he was the greatest person on the face of the planet, and almost everyone who hadn't worshipped him, was making up for lost time. He would get hundreds of pieces of fan mail daily, all saying much the same, which moved Harry to have Winky, his new house elf, to get rid of them whenever they came.

It wasn't like things were going badly for Harry. He had quickly made it through Auror academy, quite quickly and efficiently, graduating with a new found confidence that he didn't know he had.

He had quickly put into a squad with Hermione Granger, his last true best friend. Now that wasn't to mean he still wasn't mates with Ron Weasley, but things weren't the same. Harry had been dating Ginny on and off for now three years, and they were on one of there ever increasing break ups, and that was sour spot with Ron. Harry and Ginny would have spectacular fights, screaming and yelling, throwing things, mostly done by Ginny, was a common occurrence. Hermione was always willing to let Harry fall back on her and was always willing to listen to his ranting and raving.

The other squad member was none other than Padma Patil. It was quite the surprise when it was found out that Padma was joining the Auror corps, but she never gave a straight answer as to why she was doing it, only that it was her secret, and that the answer would come out when she was ready, and no one was going to force it out of her.

Harry was pleasantly surprised when he found out who his squad mates would be. Both young women were intelligent, able to think quickly, and had that air about them that always made him calm. It was one of those things he couldn't place his finger on, but was quite glad about the situation in general.

It was a Friday afternoon about a week after the three of them graduated when they were brought into head Aurors office, being notified that they would be grouped together as an experimental squad, seeing as they had no senior leader and that they would figure out for themselves if and who would lead the group. It was thought that by the leaders of the Aurors that it would be unwise to break up Hermione and Harry in any sense, since there deep friendship was no secret to anyone, and that Padma was most like the two of them coming out of the Auror class, and would be able to contribute in ways that no one else in the class would be able to, as well as be able to handle the dynamics of Harrys and Hermione's friendship.

Immediately after they were dismissed from the office, Harry had spur of the moment idea, and pulled the two women aside.

"Would you two like to come over to my flat and have a night to celebrate our graduation and squad?" After every word was spoken, Harry got more and more nervous saying it. He never made these suggestions, Hermione was usually the one to drag him out and about, and her surprise had shown on her face. Padma on the other hand had a curious smile on her face, and readily agreed. She knew the dynamic between the two, and while didn't know everything about Harry and Hermione, she most definitely knew that it would be a good way to start a friendship with two amazing individuals that most couldn't even begin to understand.

"Of course Harry, I would be delighted to." She said happily. "It would be tonight I am guessing?"

Harry nodded. "No time like the present." He said happily. He knew that Hermione would say yes, and was glad that Padma had so readily agreed. He turned to Hermione. "Are you in?"

Hermione, who was still slightly stunned, quickly broke out of her stunned expression and nodded vigorously. "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Laughs broke out all around, and last a couple of seconds before details were to be hashed out.

"How about you two come by at about seven or so? Well have some dinner and drinks maybe?" Harry didn't know if Padma drank at all, though knew that Hermione would indulge herself in a few drinks every now and then.

Both girls nodded happily. Neither were big on going out a lot, though every now and then both girls could be found out and about, though never with each other, at least not yet. Padma and Hermione had not been the closest friends, but were known at school to study at school together on occasion, seeing as both were top of their class.

"Do you need us to bring anything Harry?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head though.

"Unless you have anything you want to bring in particular, I have everything that we need back at my flat. I have both food and wine if that's alright with you."

"Surprise us then." Padma said with a smile and bid her goodbyes before heading off out of the building and back to her flat that she had by herself.

Hermione looked back at her best friend questioningly. She knew that this was out of character for him, but trusted his judgment explicitly, even more so than Ron, who she was currently dating. Harry saw the look on her face and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm glad that I'm able to work with the two of you, and I want to show my appreciation. I know that I usually don't do this often, but I'm feeling good, and I want to congratulate the two of you on the promotion that we are getting."

Hermione seemed to accept the response without anymore questioning, and headed off back to her own flat, that she lived on her own as well at, refusing to stay with Ron at the burrow, even though it was heavily hinted that all the Weasleys wanted her there.

Seven oclock quickly arrived, and Hermione and Padma found themselves outside the door of Harrys flat a few minutes before the clock struck seven. Hermione and Padma both thought highly of the other young women, and while at school there was a bit of a rivalry between the two of them, there was now a slowly growing friendship that they had struck up when they found out that they both would be training to be aurors.

They looked at each others, shrugged lightly and Hermione knocked on the door a few times. They heard Harrys voice from behind the door saying that the door was open, and Padma turned the handle and opened the door..

Harrys place was only lightly furnished, since he was usually at the ministry training, with only a couple of couches and a dinner table with four chairs as the real furnishings. There was a bed room off to the side, which was always slightly messy, which always was a reason for Hermione to playing berate Harry about having a messy room.

It wasn't until the two women turned to the kitchen, was when they saw something that would be etched into there minds for years to come. Harry was in an apron, muggle cooking what looked to be like a chicken, spaghetti, and what looked like to be broccoli in a pot. Hermione always knew that Harry had cooking skills, but never had seen him in action.

Padma, on the other hand, was extremely attracted to the fact that Harry could cook, as well as for the fact that he had probably spent the entire rest of his afternoon to go through all this trouble for the two of them. She had always thought Harry was pretty attractive, in more ways than one, and what she was seeing only proved her point.

Harry saw them standing there, and put the finishing touches on the food, beckoning them to sit down.

"Dinner is just about ready, thanks again for coming. Take a seat."

Dinner was quickly served and the first bottle of wine was broken out and served with the dinner. Both Hermione and Padma were thoroughly impressed with Harrys cooking skills. Comments like, "This is delicious Harry!" and "I cant believe you went through all of this for us." Were repeated several times to Harry by both girls and all Harry could do was blush slightly at the praise.

The three moved to the couches after dinner, and a conversation about what was to be expected of them as a squad in the Auror corps.

Padma came up with the first theory. "From what it looks like, they definitely wanted the two of you together, given the history the two of you have, and your friendship. They were probably disappointed that Ron never made it through." Ron never had made it through Auror academy. A year into it, he was offered a Quidditch contract by the Cannons, in desperate need of a keeper, and some news attention, and Ron quickly took up on it, much to the annoyance of Hermione.

"I couldn't have imagined them taking an older Auror and putting him and her in charge of the two of you. You two never did well listening to authority." Padma stated playfully, which resulted in a pillow lightly tossed at her from Harry. Though all three of them knew it was true. "The only question is why was I chosen to work with the two of you?"

Hermione had a look of genuine confusion as she couldn't place it, but Harry quickly gave an answer. "It's probably because they are going to look to you to keep us grounded. Hermione usually does a good job of that for me, but when the two of us get going, there isn't anyone to watch the both of us. You are extremely smart, and your personality is actually quite similar to ours, so its probably thought that you would be able to fit in with us quickly, and be able to not go as far as to keep an eye on us, but able to provide fruitful feedback and help us make decisions." This was quite the praise that Harry was giving out, and both girls knew that he hadn't been big on giving it out as of late.

Hermione had a knowing smile on her face, while Padma was quick to give a shy smile and to blush. It was easy for Padma to realize that she was liking Harry Potter more and more by the minute, and this night had proven that fact. She had been single for a while, and while she wasn't against dating at all, she hadn't found the right person, partly her own fault, seeing as how she didn't go out and do much. Her joining the Auror corps was to show that she was able to hold her own with the best, and that she could help the wizarding world in a way that she would be able to work behind the scenes, though that was quickly changing.

Topics changed many a time as the second bottle of wine was opened up. Harry was much the wine drinker, and had built up quite the tolerance to it, even sharing a drink with Winky once in a while, who hadn't given up on drinking.

All three would admit in the years to come that it was one of the most calming and fun nights that any of them had had in a long long time. The conversations were free flowing, and nothing stressful had been brought up the entire night. Soon it was late and time to leave, and Harry go up to show the two women out, and Hermione said by to Harry first, giving him one of her patented hugs, which Harry always loved. Padma was next, and after giving Harry a warm hug of her own, whispering into Harrys ear, "That was quite the night Harry, thank you." Before pulling away and surprising everyone including herself by giving Harry a quick kiss on the lips before leaving.

Hermione turned to a grinning and blushing Harry with her jaw open, not hiding her shocked expression. Harry blushed, grinned a bit and shrugged. "I guess it went well?"


	2. Happenings

The weekend was usually something of a bore for Harry and usually went by agonizingly slowly, between training all week and the publicity that surrounded him; he usually hid out in his flat with nothing to do. However, things were different now.

His mood was at sky high levels, between the fact that he had been grouped with Hermione, the fact that his dinner had gone so well on Friday, and the fact that that Padma Patil of all people was now included in his squad, made him ecstatic. The fact that she kissed him had only lifted his mood even higher; to the point to he was scared that it would all come crashing down on him like some evil joke.

His weekend sped by all of a sudden, and even though he still hid out in his flat, all of a sudden it was Monday morning. Harry quickly got ready, and was one of the first to arrive at the Ministry. Usually he would make it a lot closer to the actual time that he was supposed to be there, eight am to be exact, so that he could avoid the publicity that followed him around like a stalker girlfriend. He quickly made his way to where Hermione and he would usually meet, outside of the main Auror hall, and took a seat on the floor.

Back at the entrance of the Ministry, both Hermione and Padma ended up arriving at almost exactly the same time. Hermione had been burning with a thousand and one questions ever since Padma had kissed Harry, stunning everyone there. Hermione had always thought well of Padma, a little quiet if anything, but after sitting for hours pondering how the night went, Hermione would at least admit to herself, though not anyone else at least as of yet that Padma would be a much better match for Harry than Ginny would, if only for the fact that Padma was much more like Harry than Ginny could and would ever be.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Padma came up next to her and poked her on the shoulder.

"Good morning Hermione." Padma said happily, having that same shy smile that she had the last time Hermione saw her on Friday night.

"Morning to you Padma." She smiled back. "How are you doing?"

Padma smiled a little more widely. "Quite well actually, with all things considering."

Hermione smiled widely and nodded. "Caused quite the show the other night, you know that right?" She teased playfully.

Padma blushed but nodded. "It was a sort of a spur of the moment thing, just acting on my feelings, which I never always did, but I'm glad I did it, and hopefully it didn't cause any fallout anywhere."

Hermione shook her head. "Just gave the two of us a surprise is all. A good one mind you. Harry has been down of late, and that night was the pick me up he needed I think. You gave him a lot to think about, and that's not a bad thing."

"That was the plan, even though I didn't come up with it until five minutes before we all left. The alcohol certainly made it easier, though it wasn't what made the decision for me."

"I'm glad that you did it on your own, see where it goes. Don't worry about Ginny, if your able to give Harry a reason not to see her, he will quickly move on from her in my opinion. He's had enough of bad in his life, and that's all that she's been causing him as of late.

Padma nodded and the two of them started walking. They quickly made their way to Harry, who was wandlessly floating a ball about a foot in the air above his hand. Both could tell that he was meditating, and Hermione coughed slightly as she always did when she wanted to get Harry to stop meditating. Harry smiled and broke out of his meditation, putting his ball away for safe keeping, before getting up and greeting the two witches with a hug each.

"You are the only one who can interrupt me with the slightest of coughs you know Hermione." He joked. Hermione would always hold a special place in Harry's heart, even if she was only his best friend. He loved her like the sister he never had, and he would always make time for her, and would always get the true Harry, not what most other people saw… or what they wanted to see. It was sad that Ron had become distant with Harry over the last couple of years because of the Ginny situation, but Harry wasn't about to let the same thing happen with Hermione. No one had stuck behind him like she did, and that was all Harry needed to justify that she was his best friend and closest confident by far.

Hermione shrugged and slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "Come you, we got to see what the week has planned for us." Harry let the two witches grab him and drag him into the main Auror hall.

The main hall was a spacious place, where teams usually met up, and where missions and such were handed out. There were mandatory ones, and there were optional ones that were hung up on a big board that could be taken for some extra pay. The optional missions didn't have to be taken, but it was suggested by Auror command that groups should take them occasionally, just to keep in form. Training was a part of Auror life as well, 15 hours had to be done each week at least. Learning new spells, practice dueling, and research were all part of this.

The three quickly came up to the board to see what they had for the week, and realized that they would be stationed at Hogwarts on Saturday as Auror patrol during the upcoming Quidditch games. Over the last couple of years, security at such events had become a lot stricter, with Professor McGonagall agreeing that Professor Dumbledore was too lenient when it came to outside protection of the school in the last couple of years, and it was decided that all school wide events would have at least some kind of security. Auror squads were always picked at random for these kinds of things, but none of them minded the fact that they would be headed back to their old stomping grounds.

Seeing as that was the only assignment that the team was given, it was decided that they would get ahead on their training, and went down to a classroom, signing in, and started to up on new spells and tactics. This was where Hermione and Padma shined, Harry worked hard, and kept up when he had to, but the two girls were always impressive when it came to studying, learning new things at a rate that no one else in the class could. There were hundreds of books that could be chosen from, between curses, defense, charms, dueling techniques, as well as a host of other topics, there wasn't a shortage to choose from.

They would study for two hours before they moved off and practiced some dueling, and this was where Harry shined bright. He had a faster draw than anyone in Hogwarts, and almost everyone at Auror command. He was able to cast faster and more decisively than most, and his decision making made him quite the dangerous dueler. He hadn't been beat one on one by any Auror yet, and he could almost take some of the weaker Aurors two on one.

Lunch time was always in the cafeteria for the three, though they would be able to go out and eat if they need be. Lunch was provided by the Ministry, and Padma and Hermione would always count there galleons when it came down to it, since they were both living on their own, and as trainee Aurors, they weren't getting paid a ton yet. Hermione refused to accept money or anything involving money from Harry, though he would be willing to spend it on a heartbeat, saying that she was an independent witch, and could spend money when she wanted and needed to.

"So what is the plan for this afternoon?" Harry asked curiously as he munched on his sandwich. Things would be different now that they were a team, and Harry was careful to include both in considerations for whatever they did from now on, to make sure that they would be able to work efficiently as a team, as well as to be with Hermione and to get to know Padma more, but that was secondary, at least now.

"I was thinking we could grab something off the board, see if there's anything good that we can take for our first mission?" Said Padma eagerly. She was itching to get into her first mission, and see what the other could do first hand. Padma had always heard of what Harry and Hermione could do in their past adventures, but had never seen them in action in a real life situation together. Harry nodded and finished up his lunch, as he was the last to finish, and they made their way back to the board.

There hadn't been much in the way of missions as of late. Most of the death eaters had been picked up or killed off, and there were only a few scattered away in hiding, though they were all prominent death eaters, there wasn't enough as of yet that they could start doing anything of significance yet.

One was found quickly enough though, a dementor had been plaguing a muggle town off in the countryside for about a week now, taking a soul or two of an unfortunate victim every night, and it had come to the attention of the ministry. The reward was 150 galleons, and it looked easy enough that they would be able to do it in the afternoon. Hermione quickly took down the apparition points, and away they went.

The three ended up on the outskirts of a small town, kind of isolated away from everything else. There wasn't much traffic in and out to begin with, and with the dementor attacks, even that traffic had come to a halt. As they walked to the town, an alibi was drawn up, seeing that the muggles would not take well to the fact that witches and wizards were showing up in their town and Hermione was the only one good in obliviation. So they went in saying that they were spirit hunters, and they had come to investigate what had been happening to the town.

When they made it into the town it looked almost deserted, with only a few people quickly making their way to their destinations. They all could feel the cold effect that a dementor would leave in an area, and they shivered slightly. Harry quickly stopped one of an older gentleman making his way across the street.

"Hey there, could you tell me about what's been happening around here? We have been notified of the situation and are here to help." The man Harry stopped gave a shutter, and quickly explained what had happened, pointing to the direction in where the incidents had been coming from. Harry quickly thanked him and the three headed off to where the man had pointed.

They had made it about half way there, before they heard a scream, and the three bolted off, quickly getting to the building where the scream had come from. Harry blew off the door without a second thought and they quickly searched the house. Padma was horrified at what they found. Both parents had had their souls sucked. They were about to check on them, before they heard another scream and they found themselves in what looked like the daughters room. The girl was about 5, and was cornered by not one, but three dementors. All three, without thinking quickly cast there patronus spells, all hitting square on their marks. All three dementors quickly tried to flee, but Harry chased after them, casting patronus after patronus until they were out of the town and never to come back.

Harry quickly made his way back to the house, and found Hermione and Padma now comforting the hysterically crying girl. She had seen what had happened to her parents, and now was sobbing into Padma's shirt. Harry quickly strode over and pulled the girl off Padma. She clung to him for dear life, and Harry quickly went about comforting the girl. "There there, I've got you." Padma had never been the best with kids, and was unsure what to do when the girl had first started clinging to her, but was shocked when Harry had taken the girl and in a matter of minutes had the girl calming down. Hermione just smiled, knowing that Harry knew what had happened to the young girl, and that he was the only one who would be able to calm her down. They quickly made their way to the mayor's office, where they explained the situation, assuring the mayor that the situation was taken care of, and Harry making sure that the girl would be taken care of.

If there was anything that Harry was good at, he was able to relate with absolute strangers about things that he had gone through in the past, and this was no different. His past experiences had shaped Harry into the person that he was now, and though both Hermione and Padma knew that his past was something of a troubling past, both girls knew that they wouldn't want to have him any other way then how he was right now.

"You know I'm going to go back and check up on that girl right?" Both girls nodded at Harry's mention of it, and inside both knew that even if they had wanted to, neither would have stopped him. Both were glad that he was able to take an interest in something that wasn't politically involved, and thought it would be good for him to get out and do something because he wanted to, and not because he had to. It showed what kind of heart Harry had, making Padma give him even more brownie points than before.

They had made their way back to the ministry, seeing as it was getting to late afternoon, and they collected there rewards, before heading back to the ministry entrance.

"Hey Hermione, do you think I can tag along with you to the Weasleys?" Both Padma's and Hermione's eyebrows rose slightly. Padma didn't really know what was going on, but Hermione saw the look on Harry's face, and knew what was going to happen. "

"Are you sure you want to do this Harry? You know how mad they are all going to be at you…" Harry shrugged. Padma got even more confused, and Harry turned to her.

"It's not going to be that bad I think, but you know how I am with these things. I'm going to officially break up with Ginny Weasley; I just don't think things are going to work out between the two of us." He smiled wickedly and quickly kissed Padma on the cheek to the surprise of both Witches this time and disappeared without a sound. Hermione stamped her foot in mock anger and then started giggling at Padma's dreamy look on her face.

"Like a taste of your own medicine?" Both girls laughed.

"Would you like to come along? It's going to be a shit show I'll tell you that much, it might make for a good pensive memory…" Padma shrugged and nodded and Hermione grabbed her hand both girls disappeared.

When they arrived at the Burrow, they heard there first shriek come from the house. They quickly made their way up to the house, and through the open door, to see Ginny with her want pointed at Harry, and she was shaking with rage. Arthur was desperately trying to keep her daughter from doing anything rash, and Molly was weirdly quiet.

"You know this isn't a good idea Ginny. I know things aren't what you want, but you just have to accept it." Arthur tried to plead with her. He knew that Harry wouldn't take well to violence, and ever since his daughter had made into the quidditch league, she had let her dueling skills slack, and was no match for Harry, no matter what she thought.

Ginny turned and saw Hermione and Padma, and she came to the realization that it was Padma that had screwed everything up, as far as from the truth it was, and quickly sent a stunner her way. Padma was caught off guard and was almost hit by it, before Harry deflected it away. Harry quickly subdued Ginny and bound her. He quickly stalked his way up to her, and bent over.

"You have no right doing that, you filthy girl." He quickly stood up and quietly made his way out of the house, without saying goodbye to anyone, with Hermione and Padma quickly following.

Once they were out of range, Harry quickly apologized. "I didn't think that that would have happened, I'm sorry, both of you." He ran his hand through his messy hair, making it even worse. Padma smiled, and patted Harry's hair back down.

"No worries, I should have been ready for what was coming. That was quite the display of anger. Now that I think about it though, how is this going to affect you Hermione?

Hermione honestly didn't know, and just shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'll have to see what happens when Ron finds out. I'm sure that will be soon, and I'm sure that ill hear about it, whatever his reaction will be.

It was getting late, and after a bit of an extended good bye, all three went off to their respected flats, tuckered out from the day's events, both physically and mentally drained.


	3. Musings

Waking up to a letter from Ron was not the way Harry wanted to start his day.

Waking up to the screeching sound of Pig outside his window was also not how he wanted to start his day.

The combination of both, while being woken up an hour earlier really pushed every button that could have been pushed all at the same time.

Pig was literally smashing his face into Harry's bed room window over and over again while screeching trying desperately to get into his room, and once Harry let the poor bird in, it landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, skidding to a halt half way inside his room.

Harry untied the letter from Pigs leg and didn't bother to help the poor thing and left the bird on the floor while he untied the letter and tried to make out Rons scribble that he called handwriting.

Harry,

What's going on here? I heard what happened last night, we need to talk. I don't like where things are going. Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron after work.

Ron

Harry sighed and tossed the letter into his garbage bin. That was the last thing he wanted to do, but it wasn't like he could ignore his former best friend. Things were getting out of control it seemed, and something had to be done about it. He took a long shower, letting the water run over his body, soaking in the warm water, before finally getting out and getting changed. By the time he got to the ministry, Padma and Hermione were already there, both speaking to what looked like to be a high ranking Auror. Harry quickly walked up to them. Hermione had a hard look on her face, while Padma looked worried.

"What's going on here?" He looked at the two girls and then the Auror.

The Auror stuck out his hand, which Harry shook. "Travis Biller, we met briefly once before. It has come to my attention that Padma here was attacked last night. What happened?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Of course one of the top Aurors in Auror command would be tipped off, just his luck.

"I went to the Burrow to speak with Ginny Weasley, to hopefully put an end to things between the two of us…" Biller nodded and motioned for Harry to continue. "She quickly became irate, and drew her wand on me. Hermione and Padma showed up soon after, and Ginny immediately attacked Padma when she saw her. I saw the attack and stopped it, and subdued Ginny before any more damage could be done." Harry knew not to ask who had tipped off Biller, because he knew the Auror would never give an answer, but knew it was a serious enough matter that he most certainly wasn't going to lie to the man.

Travis nodded. "You know that there will have to be an investigation about this. If you want to press charges, please let me know in the next twenty four hours. And just to assure you, no charges will be pressed on you for acting in self defense. Thank you for your time, and see you again soon." And off he went. Harry turned to the two girls who both shook their heads. "Neither of us pressed charges, if that's what you're thinking." Harry shook his head.

"I know you both didn't, though I have my suspicions on who dd. I also got a note from Ron, saying that he wanted to meet me tonight to talk. I could only imagine what that's going to be about…" He shook his head.

Hermione could only know where this was going, and wanted to go along to see if she could diffuse the situation. The last thing that Hermione wanted was for her two favorite men to start arguing and fighting, but Padma stopped her, and while Harry was looking away, she whispered in her ear.

"You are going to have to let the two of them handle this I think, it wouldn't be your place, and you may only stress them out even more." Padma gently whispered. "Why don't you come back to my flat? If were together and if anything happens, it'll be easier for us to get to wherever we need to be." Hermione at first thought nothing of it, but there was something else that was behind the comment, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shrugged and nodded, and the two girls dragged Harry off for the day at work.

Harry was noticeably distracted for most of the day. He didn't put everything into practice that he usually did, and could be seen looking off into the distance most of the day. He was almost so distracted that he almost lost a duel between one of the other new Aurors, which was a shock in itself. To him, the day dragged by, and he was almost glad that he would be getting out, until he realized that he would have to be facing Ron that evening. He knew nothing of the girls plans, but told them from the beginning that he would have to go see Ron alone, for the exact reasons that Padma had mentioned at the beginning of the day. He didn't want things to blow up more than they already did, as they were already at the boiling point.

A sullen looking Harry said his goodbyes after work was done, and went off to the leaky cauldron, while the two girls watched him leave. "I hope he's alright…" Hermione said to almost herself.

Padma heard them. "I'm sure he will be, I doubt he will get too angry about it. He looked more resigned than anything, though he did seem pretty determined about the whole thing. I'm surprised he stopped the attack."

Hermione looked at the pretty girl and smiled. "He cares about you. He obviously likes you. He never acts the way he does around you with anyone else. Not me, not Ginny. Harry and I may be best friends. But you can provide him with something that I could never provide him with. For one reason or another. They started walking when Padma broached the obvious question.

"Did you ever have feelings for Harry?" Hermione shrugged, to Padmas surprise. She was expecting a resolute yes or no, but this was different.

"To be honest with you, I'm not really sure, and I don't know that I will ever be. There were certainly mountains worth of occasions where he and I could of and would of started going out, and I would have been completely fine with it. I think he's scared about the whole situation. He and I have never talked about it. And to be frank you, I feel the same way. Harry has been there for me so many times, in so many different ways. What happened if it didn't work out? What happened if we ended up hating each other? I don't know that I would be able to handle that, and I know for a fact that harry wouldn't be able to. It was just one of things that kept passing us by, and it was something we weren't ready for, or something that we didn't want to be ready for, because of what may have happened. What about you? Things seem to be moving along at quite the nice pace?"

Padma shrugged and nodded, smiling slightly. "He's been growing on my by the minute to be honest with you. That night that the three of us spent together was truly the best time I had in probably years and everything he does just makes him a little bit more attractive, if you know what I mean. He just has that aura around him that just makes me just a little bit mushy inside, something I never have felt before, and it is quite exciting."

Hermione giggled and nodded. They had ended up outside of Padma's flat, as she lived close to the Ministry. Padma let herself and Hermione in, and Hermione took stock of Padma's living situation.

To her surprise it was much like Harry's. There wasn't much in the way of furnishing, and while it was a little smaller than Harry's there wasn't much difference about it, though it was much neater, and a bit tidier. Padma broke out a couple of butterbeers and handed one to Hermione, and the two took seats on Padma's couches.

"I know it's not much of a place, but this is my humble little flat…" Hermione cut Padma off. "Its great Padma, I like it a lot, especially since it's a lot like Harry's. My flat isn't much bigger, and it's all cluttered with bookshelves and books everywhere. I like that you have it so neat and organized, much different than Harry's mess." Both girls giggled a bit.

Most of the night was spent talking and telling stories. Ironically or not ironically, most of them came back to Harry. Hermione could spend days telling stories about Harry, spending almost every day at school with him, and him still being so close to her after three full years of being out of school. She would have to admit to herself that if she hadn't been dating Ron, that one day she would have made a play for Harry, as they had so much in common, and from what it looked like, her fears were a little overestimated, and that they could have probably worked things out. However from what the two girls had talked about, it looked like Padma was going to make a play for Harry, Ginny be damned.

Padma was at first surprised at Hermione's response to if she had ever liked Harry. The main difference between Hermione and Padma was that Padma was a lot more practical than Hermione was. Hermione liked to beat around the bush a lot; especially as she got older, while Padma was much more do what is on your mind kind of person. She realized early on that she liked Harry, and that she was going to do something about it. There were problems in her way of course especially that the fact that Harry was such a high profile person, but that wasn't going to stop her from getting what she wanted.

It was quite empty for a Tuesday night at the leaky cauldron, thought Harry.

He quickly found Ron, who was sitting in a corner by himself. He quickly made his way over to his lanky friend, who got up and they shook hands.

"Hey Ron, good to see you, what can I do for you?"

They both sat down and Ron took a second to compose himself before he spoke.

"What is going on between you and Ginny, and for a matter of fact, what's going on between you and Padma? Things all seemed to blow up out of nowhere…"

Harry shrugged. "Ron, Ginny and I can't stay together for more than three months without getting into huge fights and breaking up, over and over. It's getting annoying to be honest with you, and I'm sick and tired of it. I have enough on my plate that I don't need that hanging over my head. And as for Padma and I, we are squad mates, and friends." And more to come probably, but Harry wasn't going to say as much, not at least at a time like this. He didn't want things to get out of hand, and he knew that things would quickly blow out of the water if he said anything of the sort. He hated lying to Ron, even something as silly as simple about this. Five years ago, they would be able to joke about it and have a good time about it. Not anymore.

"So just going to give up on Ginny?" Harry sighed and shook his head.

"I never said I was going to give up on her, but any relationship between her and I is over. I don't want to deal with it anymore Ron. I don't have the time, patience, or tolerance for it. I've realized that things are not going to work, and it's time for everyone to move on. As much as I wanted things to work out, and trust me, I did just as much as anyone else, it wasn't going to happen. It was both our faults I guess, but I'm looking for someone I can spend the rest of my life with, and not have it be one big fight after another."

This was the most Harry was going to say on the subject. Inside his own mind, the only thing he really blamed himself for was for always going back to Ginny. He rationalized that he didn't think that he had any other options than Ginny, and that it was thought that was the only way that he could go in a relationship. But his last few days with Padma was opening a lot of doors for him, something he didn't know was there before.

Ron went to say something, but no words came out, and he sighed. "I guess you're right. I wanted the two of you to work out so badly. It would have been great for everyone. But I guess we can't have everything that we want." Ron got up slowly, and shook Harry's hand good bye, before slowly walking out of the leaky cauldron.

Harry sighed and called out for Winky, who quickly popped in.

"What can I do for Master Harry?" Harry was never able to get the elf to kick the habit of calling him Master, and finally realized that there were bigger battles in life than to fight with an elf day in and day out about what he wanted to be called, though only barely.

"Could you find out where Padma and Hermione are and report back to me?" Harry had the sneaky suspicion that they were together.

The house elf nodded and popped away, returning a few minutes later giggling slightly, much to the surprise of Harry. Winky never giggled!

"They are at Missus Padmas house, and have been drinking quite a bit it seems."

Harry smiled and nodded. "This should be good" He muttered.

Harry quickly made his way to Padma's flat, and found the door to be open. He could hear giggling throughout the flat, and quickly found the two girls. The first thing he found were to be almost a dozen bottles of butterbeers sitting on the floor of the living room, and two very tipsy girls on the couch, telling stories to each other, slightly slurring.

Padma was the first to see Harry, and her eyes got a bit wide with excitement. She had found that she was missing Harry just a tiny bit, and seeing him made her good night just get a little bit better. She was hoping that he would come by, and she wasn't disappointed. Hermione took one look at Harry and just giggled uncontrollably. She had a bit more to drink than Padma, but seeing as most of the conversation between the two witches was about Harry, she had come to learn a bit more about Padma, and could see that if it wasn't rushed, the two of them could be a very good fit for each other.

Harry just smiled and waved at the two of them. "Having fun on your play date I see?" He questioned teasingly. Both girls giggled and nodded, and Padma patted the seat on the couch next to her, and handed Harry a butterbeer. "We saved you one."

"Only one?" Harry laughed and took the butterbeer, opening it and taking a swig of it before sitting down.

"You should have come by sooner then Mr. I need to be all important and go talk to people." She giggled and poked Harry's nose, before leaning back in the chair." Neither Harry nor Padma were really touchy kind of people, and all the people in the room knew this, so it was quite the show affection for any of them, even if it really was almost nothing at all.

"How did the conversation with Ron go?" Hermione had all of a sudden remembered where Harry had been, and while she didn't sober up any, she was very curious as to what had happened between the two of them in the last couple of hours. Seeing that Harry wasn't bleeding or cut up anywhere was a good start in her mind.

Harry shrugged. "I guess he just wanted an explanation as to what had happened, and an explanation as to why Ginny and I were not ever getting back together. It was a lot simpler than what I thought it would be, but still stressful all the same."

Both girls shrugged at the explanation as to what had happened between Ron and Harry. Both girls thought that things could have gone a lot worse, and were satisfied that nothing of real significance happened.

Seeing as it was getting late, and there were two drunken girls at hand. Harry quickly and discretely wrapped up the night, before sending Hermione on her way, and helping Padma, who was quickly sobering up, clean up.

By the time everything was clean, Padma was now close to being sober, and walked Harry to the door.

"I'm glad you came by to see me, you didn't have to come by and it was nice of you." She paused slightly before giving him a hug and holding him for a bit.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and smiled. "I'm glad I came too… did you two have a good time?"

Padma nodded into his chest. "Yes we did a lot of stories and becoming closer friends with someone I used to compete with for seven years at school with."

Harry laughed and nodded. He pulled away from her a bit, before leaning in and giving Padma a kiss on the corner of the mouth, before biding her a good night, and heading back to his own flat, leaving a slightly blushing, and pondering young witch behind him.


End file.
